19 Charged in Alleged Software Piracy Plot 311
Brainsur writes "
A federal grand jury has indicted 19 people on charges they used the Internet to pirate more than $6.5 million worth of copyrighted computer software, games and movies.The indictment outlines an alleged plot by defendants from nine states, Australia and Barbados to illegally distribute newly released titles, including movies like "The Incredibles" and "The Aviator," and games like "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005."
Its just a .... (Score:5, Insightful)
Not some super secret terrorist organisation out to destroy america's economy.
IN CAPITALIST AMERICA (Score:5, Insightful)
That's a lot of money... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's people like these who make it more and more difficult just to use software because of the security features they add. I can't tell you how many times iTunes has spontaniously wiped all the files on it.
Re:That's a lot of money... (Score:4, Insightful)
No, it's people like the ones that make decisions in the companies that produce the software stupidly thinking they can make something that nobody will break, and sacrificing usability of the end-product for the concept.
Consider how many times it's kept a product from being pirated. Then consider how many times the companies have been majorly burned by it backfiring on them.
Smart decisions, huh?
Bait? (Score:4, Insightful)
Take a look at used software for sale on ebay. Thousands of used titles with no takers. The bottom has fallen out of software business long ago. Next to go was the music business, and then the movie business. Its not even worthwhile to duplicate them and list them.
There is such a flood of media and digital data, that its very hard to sell such a thing anymore. Ask any music artist or band trying to sell their cd. There just are no takers. Its gone long ago.
To think that PGA Golf and The Aviator are items in hot demand is laughable... me thinks we are being baited.
Now that these nutty cyber terrorists are gone... (Score:5, Insightful)
The frustrating/disappointing thing about all these lawsuits and 'victories' over piracy is that with every win, groups like the MPAA/RIAA only feel more firmly that their new business model (CRUSH, SUE, EXTORT, EXTERMINATE!) is a successful and long term one. Each time a major 'piracy bust' hits the news it only further propagates the myth that Piracy is what's driving declines in Movies, Music, Software and Games. When the real culprit (though, obviously Piracy does play some part) is Quality, Price, and the Media (DRM disks, copy once CDs, Theaters, Star-Force, ect).
But then again, I'm preaching to the choir here...
This is a misleading headline (Score:5, Insightful)
The defendants, many of whom worked in high-tech jobs, were members of "RISCISO," a "warez" community founded in 1993, according to the indictment. Warez groups are underground associations that use the Internet to illegally distribute copyrighted software.
Okay, right. A warez group got busted. Great. But the headline reads 19 Charged in Alleged Software Piracy Plot. Piracy plot? And the worst part, by far, is the opening of the article- A federal grand jury has indicted 19 people on charges they used the Internet to pirate more than $6.5 million worth of copyrighted computer software, games and movies. To the untrained eye, this seems just like every day Bob who downloaded a film or two...
I think it's a scare tactic. I don't like it. But then again, maybe I'm paranoid and stuff...
- dshaw
Re:Good (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Its just a .... (Score:5, Insightful)
free software (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Its just a .... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Its just a .... (Score:5, Insightful)
It doesn't matter if you criminally conspire to evade taxes, to murder someone or to infringe on copyrights.
Conspiring to break laws is a crime and the police should deal with them as criminals.
Extraditing for warez (Score:2, Insightful)
Anyone else find it ridiculeous?
It's something (Score:3, Insightful)
Certainly, it should be pretty low on the priority list as far as the FBI or any government agency is concerned, but that doesn't mean it should be ignored when hard evidence can be brought against large-scale criminals, as these 19 supposedly are.
The problem with warez is that it's easy. While cracking DRM and copyright may not be simple, once that's done, it's easy for anyone and everyone to download it. It isn't even limited by speed- a fairly patient person could download, say, a Doom 4 ISO if they wanted.
Because of this ease, and the much lower risk of being caught (hence its prevalence), it is biting into income of companies. The numbers that they throw out may or may not be exact, but you can just shrug them away and say it hurts noone.
However, the penalties placed against some of these people are a bit odd. A slap on the wrist and a $100 fine doesn't really cut it for large distributors, but some of the jailtime and fines that I've read about seem unrealistic. After all, they are copying something, not taking it, so they aren't depriving the original owner of anything (assuming that the original owner didn't intend for the download.) Downloading a CD should bring far less of a penalty than stealing a physical CD from a store.
Re:Its just a .... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Good (Score:5, Insightful)
Bring a good, detailed argument about why non-profit copyright violators should be punished to the fullest extent of the law and then we can have a more reasonable debate.
Re:IN CAPITALIST AMERICA (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess that comment is just another scare tactic, I suppose they think that claiming links to terrorism may stop people buying pirate software.
Its just a thought.... (Score:3, Insightful)
All the money spent by the US government lately has achieved exactly what? There just have been no successes in all this, and I think that they (you know who 'they' are) are looking for successes as the election nears. I know that the *AA will be proud of how their 'campaign contributions' were spent... I am just wondering what the American public will think of how the dollars were spent... hunting down grandmas and wiretapping anyone and everyone...
Makes me think there just might be a conspiracy in here somewhere?????
Re:Its just a .... (Score:3, Insightful)
I've got news for you mate, just because it's law doesn't mean it's *right*, and just because a kid broke the law doesn't mean you should ruin his life for it.
Re:Its just a .... (Score:3, Insightful)
I still have no idea what the OP's point is, and now I have no idea what your point is, or how they relate to one another.
Thought Police- How many lives have you saved? (Score:5, Insightful)
Is this how humanity evolved? Is this how we will be able to retain knowledge in the future? What the fuck are libraries but mass piracy collectives?
Here is the truth of it, and it will piss off pretty much everyone in this non-manufacturing based economy.
You either know something or you do not. It is either secret or it is not. And in the end, all things are known.
You cannot own knowledge. It was never yours to begin with. The language I am speaking now was giving to me by thousands of years of other English speakers. It is not mine to own. The word "fkucherry" that I just made up does not belong to me. It is a contruct of what I've learned from others. It is knowledge.
When this understanding is realized, say after a catastrophic event, then Linux will no longer need the GPL along with all other proprietary software/entertainment data. And the data that will be able to survive at that point will be open data, as Linux is today. It will save our asses- mark my words. Windows and all those shit programs that those people copied won't be worth a drop of piss. Nobody will be able to modify it. It will be useless.
And so here is what I think of arresting very smart people in high end technical positions. Maybe they know something that you don't? Maybe they aren't paid by people that get their money from PAC funded politicians. Maybe they are archiving data educating more people than your broken government ever could. Maybe we should all think about what this means.
I have to tell you that the moment Intellect and Knowledge became legal property is the moment that you have no "lawful" rights to your own thoughts. That does not serve anyone and never has.
Re:IN CAPITALIST AMERICA (Score:3, Insightful)
In Capitalist America, the economy destroys you!
Re:Its just a .... (Score:3, Insightful)
You just made that up, or, no, I take it back, you weren't that creative. You're just repeating what you've "heard." Civil disobedience as a form of public protest is done publicly, but civil disobedience is a matter of conscience, not public display.
Thoreau said, "Break the law."
He didn't say "Break the law, but make sure you get caught."
Damn near every pot smoker hiding in the basement is being civilly disobedient simply because they know in their hearts that it is the law that is wrong. It's an issue of intent.
Hell, 9 tenths of the 4th Amendment was to allow you be civilly disobedient in private and without fear of prosecution, because the framers knew that sooner or later the government would act to make mere possession of something or other a crime in and of itself.
Most of them had been criminally guilty of it themselves.
KFG
Re:Good (Score:3, Insightful)
Bring a good, detailed argument about why non-profit copyright violators should be punished to the fullest extent of the law and then we can have a more reasonable debate."
But if he said, these guys got railroaded, it also brings nothing to the table but wouldn't have been modded down. As for a flamewar, you presuppose that
Economics (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:See Reuters Article (Score:2, Insightful)
A movie is only one DVD disc, but several CDs.
See how the game is played? The exact opposite of what you doing by fitting an appropriate form of data to the disk.
See how well it worked on you? You completely lost track of what the real issue was and started thinking in terms of analogous strawmen, even to the point of wondering about how they managed the logistics of that many songs.
Way, way more copyright violations than are actually being dealt with here.
When looking at the numbers in these releases think very slowly and very hard, because they are, quite deliberately, out to mindfuck you.
KFG
Re:Its just a .... (Score:3, Insightful)
The main charge is criminal conspiracy.
It doesn't matter if you criminally conspire to evade taxes, to murder someone or to infringe on copyrights.
Conspiring to break laws is a crime and the police should deal with them as criminals.
Hmmm...so if you invite some friends to share a little grass you should get five years? Man, this country has been down this road a number of times and the people don't take kindly to the government throwing their kids in jail for stupid shit. Look, these aren't drug runners trying to get rich people hooked on crack. It's just a social thing that millions upon millions of hardworking Americans partake for the pure enjoyment of it.
Thank you for protecting us! (Score:3, Insightful)
It Make her and myself feel so much safer knowing that the goverment(s) are spending millions of dollars a year to help these companies keep evil software pirates behind bars.
Re:IN CAPITALIST AMERICA (Score:3, Insightful)
Every day during the commute to work on the NYC Subway, there's always an Asian woman who walks from train to train (in between the trains when they move) selling ripped DVD's in fake cases. If you can buy pirated DVD's in the subways (and Battery Park on the weekends I believe) then I'm sure somewhere in the world, someone is selling pirated software.
Re:IN CAPITALIST AMERICA (Score:3, Insightful)
Terrorists DO recieve money from oil.
LK
Re:IN CAPITALIST AMERICA (Score:3, Insightful)
Now, I can't speak to the truth of whether terrorists are getting funding from software piracy, but it's no more ridiculous than any other for-profit criminal activity and, in fact, might be more lucrative than others given that the number of people willing to plunk down cash for cheap movies and games is much greater than that of people willing to inject themselves with heroin.
Re:Its just a .... (Score:2, Insightful)
Martin Luther King, Jr., [wikipedia.org] Mahatma Gandhi, [emory.edu] John Hancock, [wikipedia.org] and many others are rolling over in their respective graves in response to your statement. If everyone believed this, government tyranny would be much greater than it already is.
MLK, referencing Thoreau, makes the point better than I can:
We should not respect all laws, but we should choose which laws to disrespect carefully. Two of the three names I mentioned went to jail and were murdered because of their beliefs and actions. Choose. Choose wisely.Re:IN CAPITALIST AMERICA (Score:3, Insightful)
It's been proved that billions of dollars from oil is the major funding for ME terrorist groups. Most warez is freely distributed online. That which is sold is mostly for hardly more than the cost of media (as that's the bottom line in cost to the pirates, competition quickly brings the price down to close to that). I'm sure you can do the "Kevin Bacon six degrees of separation" from my buying a CDR of Photoshop under the counter to bin Laden if you try. And I bet the prosecutors will.
Re:Slashbot says.... (Score:3, Insightful)
The problem seems to be that you are confused from the get-go:
The problem here is that these guys were NOT selling illegal copies. Go back to the few stories where Feds actually bust gen-u-ine counterfeit / piracy rings. Much fewer sympathetic replies.
Wait - you mean network geeks would be upset with asshats that abuse other people's bandwidth to make one of the best communication systems ever developed near useless?! I'm shocked. You also might note that these asshats would go away if profit was not a motive.
Oh no! How dare people demand that the very laws that incure hefty penalties on individuals should also be upheld against corporate interests - who again, are making money with their actions. You might also note here that the license being violated by individuals tends to limit distribution while the GPL intends to expand distribution.
If you want to stress that these folks broke the law - fine. If you want to make a point of why the law is good - fine. But please spare us from the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer routine.